Smile for me
by NatureG45
Summary: A new school,a new experience,new people and someone who could use a little help(Nalu high school AU)
1. Chapter 1

_Well here's a little story. The other day whilst scrolling on this_ _broken_ _website, I saw a comic that really intrigued me and well, I wanted to see if I could write something for it. That's how this happened. (P.s. It's high school AU)_

 _Please enjoy._

 **Pairing: Nalu**

 **Part 1**

"Quiet! Quiet all of you! sit down and listen to what I have to say!"

The clamour died down under the sharp glare of the elderly teacher whose graying pink hair and wrinkled cheeks couldn't downplay the look of murder in her eyes.

One last paper plane whizzed through the air before she spoke again, "Today we have a new student. I would like for you all to welcome Lucy Heartfilia." She gestured to the young blonde standing next to her who-in turn-bowed her head in greeting to the class.

Lucy raised her head focusing on the group in front of her, truly they were a strange assortment. From what she could see, there was no groups or cliques. This was obvious as to how haphazardly most sat. For example, sitting beside the bright, blue-haired girl swinging her legs excitedly was a boy (could he even be called that?) with an unruly mane of black hair barely restrained by a gray headband and had a multitude of piercings that dotted his impassive face.

This was good.

No special seating arrangements meant she could escape the usual awkwardness of choosing where to sit.

A few of her classmates regarded her with disinterested glances (guy with piercings included, and also a guy in the back with no shirt) but most gave approving nods as well as little waves.

Also good.

No-one here knew or (even if they did) seemed to care about her background which meant no fake friends this time. This was going to be good.

"Ms. Heartfilia," the teacher continued," I hope you enjoy your stay a Fairy Tail Academy, now take a seat and also," she leaned in closer to the girl," don't let their looks fool you. They're a rowdy bunch the lot of 'em, a bunch of delinquents if you ask me. Watch yourself."

"I'll keep that in mind," Lucy replied

Her eyes skimmed over the classroom once more, looking for the perfect place to absorb the school's scripted knowledge. Most of the window seats (sadly) were taken and the majority of empty seats were in the back, not exactly Lucy's style.

That being said, the only place to go was the middle row, between the blue-haired girl and a kid wearing a black parka with the hood pulled all the way up.

Setting her messenger bag on the desk, Lucy pulled up the chair and focused on the teacher scribbling away at the board about the book they were supposed to be focusing on; " _Black and White, The dark mage who lost his light."_

"Today we'll be delving deeper into the traits of this book's main character, Zeref. From what we can tell, he was curse young age and wandered most of his life, avoiding people at all costs to protect them. This all changed however, when he met Mavis….."

The teacher's dictating voice, though strong and powerful, was pushed away by a small-somewhat squeaky- voice next to her.

"Psst hey, hey Lucy!"

Lucy turned to face brown eyes similar to her, it looks like she was already on the way to making her first friend.

"My name's Levy, it's nice to meet you!" She held out her slender hand for Lucy to shake. "Same," the blonde took her hand and shook it, "but I'm a little nervous though."

Levy tilted her head, "Why so? Do the guys in here really look that scary?"

"No, that's not it but," she paused, "I've never really been so good at dealing with transitions like this. Met some pretty mean people because of it. Though here looks more promising than anywhere else I've been."

"No worries," Levy replied," Everyone here's fine. You've got those a bit on the grumpy side and that's about it, There was that one time when some seniors got wild and tried to take over the school but that's another story though."

" **! !** " The duo jumped at the sound of their names.

"I'm sure that your conversation is one that is truly riveting but pay attention! Heartfilia, this is your first strike. Mcgarden, I don't care if you've read the book 3 times already, no talking out of term."

The boy beside Levy let out a snicker of odd laughter (gihi, like seriously?) and said something about the bookworm finally getting in trouble.

She turned back to the board to scribble some more notes. "Sorry 'bout that Lucy. I got you in trouble with Miss Porlyusica on your first day."

"It's fine, just gotta avoid doing that for the rest of the time."

Lucy reached into her bag and pulled out her notebook, alongside a fuzzy purple pen and began to take down the notes from the chalkboard when problem struck.

Her pen, _oh her beloved purple pen with the fuzzy ball on top was running out of ink._

The girl watched in horror as the ink-first black, faded to gray then to nothing. Only indents of the words she wrote were left on the page. Well this was great, now what?

She inspected Levy out of the corner of her eye, writing away at the speed of light. Maybe she had an extra….?

"Levy, do you have an extra pen? Mine just died on me."

"Gimme a sec."

Levy set down her pen after taking down one more sentence and poked around in her bag hanging off the chair, "Lemme see, not here, not there. Is that one? Wait that one died yesterday, why do I even have that still?"

Her hands slipped into her pockets and fished out an assortment of items. A phone, a keychain, a pack of gum, pocket dictionary but no pen.

"Sorry, I don't think I have another."

She nudged the guy beside her, "Gajeel you got an extra pen?"

He grunted a response and Levy turned back to Lucy, "No luck, maybe you can try asking around?" Ask around yeah, but who though. Lucy really couldn't be bothered to scout around for a pen among her classmates and it was quite obvious her strict teacher wouldn't approve of Lucy walking about row to row.

She slid her eyes over to the person opposite to Levy, the one wearing the parka.

From what could be seen, broad shoulders and some well-defined muscles printing out against the clothing, the person was most likely male. Their hands resting on the tabletop, were fairly large (well bigger than Lucy's anyways) with thick knuckles and some callouses.

Signs of fighting. Some punk kid maybe?

Their face remained hidden, only a few strands of bright pink hair peeked out from the shadow, a cheerful contrast to the image they were giving off. Mysterious.

Hesitantly, Lucy reached over and poked the person. They tensed at the contact.

"Um excuse me," she said softly," sorry to bother but do you have an extra pen? Mine ran out of ink."

No response.

Ok, time to try someone else then.

She moved to get up-to ask someone else down the line-when a slender, thin object was held out in front of her. A pen, not as fancy as her previous one but who cares? She got what she needed.

"Thanks a bunch, you really helped me out."

They nodded in response and soundlessly went back to focus on their work.

How curious….

 _Well yay I finished typing!_

 _Part 2 will be uploaded whenever I finish it_


	2. Chapter 2

_Ok so I'm back again, sorry for the wait all my teachers hate me_ _and I hate them_ _but not the point. Enjoy part 2!_

 **Pairing: Nalu**

 **Part 2**

"I don't believe it, you've read _'The Wind Singer'_ too!?" Levy exclaimed, "That's great!"

"I have! It's really weird but I enjoy the creativity. What about _'The Great Tree of Avalon'_ , have you read that?"

"Yup, have all 3 books too!"

Who would've thought her new friend (soon to be best friend) was an avid book lover like herself? Not Lucy, it was certainly a pleasant surprise.

Sitting in the lunchroom and munching her way through a turkey sandwich, she found herself becoming more and more engrossed in the conversation.

"So do you write Levy?" Lucy inquired

"Nope," she replied honestly, "Never had the talent for it. I tried a couple times but the results were always the same you know, disastrous. What about you? There's that reclusive writer look to you."

Lucy chuckled, "Never knew there was a look that came with it. I do some things on occasion. I'd love to be a writer when I get older, just need to get the confidence first."

Her friend gave a solemn nod," I understand. Well, when that burst of enthusiasm comes along or your confidence rises enough, can I read your work?"

"Sure. I have a little thing I'm working on right now. Just keep this info between us and you _might_ get to read it." Levy straightened with a serious expression and dragged her finger over her heart in a quick _'X'_ motion, "Cross my heart, your amazing talent is safe with me."

"It's not _'amazing'_ , I still need practice."

"Can't be as bad as my past attempts. Now tell me, is this thing you're working on a steamy romance?" Levy wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

The two girls continued in their chat, aimlessly switching between topics on interest when Lucy saw him. His dark hood was still pulled firmly over his face as he shuffled away out of the cafeteria. Her focus drifted from Levy and settled on his retreating figure.

"Lucy, what are you looking at?"

She pointed at the doors just as he stepped out; Levy didn't see him.

"There was a guy," Lucy explained, "Black hoodie covering his face and he sat beside me in class. Who was that?"

Here words did something to her new friend; the bright light of excitement in Levy's eyes dimmed slightly.

"That's Natsu,"she stated softly, "our resident ball of sunshine."

"Doesn't look like the case, what happened to him?"

"Life can be pretty cruel sometimes. Natsu got dealt a bad hand sometime back. Before that he was the life of the school. Pulling pranks and picking fights to defend those who couldn't do it for themselves, got into trouble all the time for either of those but that never stopped his smile. He was just the happiest person around, and that happiness was infectious."

"And then what? "Lucy pressed, "What went wrong?"

Levy shifted closer to her, "You ever heard of the Tartarus gang?"

She nodded, of course she had. Who hadn't heard of such an infamous group? Evading the law constantly while taking out innocent civilians across the country. It was horrifying to hear about the things they did on the news.

"They were taken out by the police force here right?"

Her friend shook her head, "that's the story the press released. It was actually Natsu and his father who took them out of the picture. All the details were kept under wraps to protect Natsu from the media."

Lucy sat in amazement, her mouth forming a perfect _'O'_ at the news, it was difficult to process such information. She listened keenly to Levy's words as she explained about Igneel-Natsu's dad-and how he and Natsu barely saw each other due to his job. How Igneel had come back for an extended vacation to get in the quality time they had both missed. And how on the last night of his return, everything fell apart.

"One night when they were out, Tartarus jumped them. Obviously Natsu and his dad put up a fight. From what I heard, Igneel took out about 4 of them before he went down."

"Wait, by _'went down'_ you mean….?"

The grim look on Levy's face said it all, "Yeah,Igneel died in the encounter. Natsu flew into a rage when he saw his father fall and beat the rest of them to near death. When the cops came, they found him bashing in the face of the guy that took his dad from him. About 3 policemen had to pull Natsu off the guy so he wouldn't kill him."

Levy slumped in her seat with a heavy sigh, "After Igneel's funeral, Natsu was still acting like himself-cheerful and full of joy, but it was different. Like he was losing energy. Since then he became more reclusive, speaking less and less until last week he started donning that hoodie and stopped talking to any of his friends. He's got us all worried like crazy. I think the reality of it all just came crashing down on him and this is the only way for him to cope."

Lucy didn't know how to react.

How are you supposed to react to hearing something like that? Having to lose your father before your very eyes. The poor guy-Natsu-had his heart ripped in such a way that'll probably never heal properly.

She understood that pain, she understood why he was drifting away from others. After having her mother taken from her at a young age, Lucy felt a slight link between their sorrows, even if the circumstances were vastly different.

Maybe she could try and help.

Lucy stood up suddenly, causing her friend to jump, "I'm going to help him." her voice filled with determination.

"Lucy, "Levy said uncertainly, "I'm not so sure that'll work."

"It's worth a shot isn't it? And I can't just sit back knowing something like this and not do anything to help."

Levy looked at Lucy, her eyes somewhat hopeful, "Are you absolutely positive about this?"

Lucy nodded firmly. For some reason-maybe due to their similar losses- Lucy felt that she could help him, get him back to the way he was. She knew it was a long shot, not even having a proper conversation with him yet, but she wanted to try.

"Who knows," she said, "maybe a new voice can get him out of his shell."

 _*Laughs maniacally whilst spinning in chair*_

 _What even is writing_

 _How do you write emotions_

 _Final part will be uploaded by either Saturday or Sunday._


	3. Chapter 3

_Finally here it is, the third and final part of whatever it is that I've been writing!_

 _Please enjoy_

 **Pairing: Nalu**

 **Part 3**

Four months had passed and Lucy still couldn't figure it out.

What was it about this boy that made her so desperate to help him? At this point she wasn't even sure anymore, but regardless of her lost reason she still tried so hard to get through to him.

Even so-however difficult the task at hand was- Lucy knew she was getting somewhere. His shoulders no longer tensed when she spoke to him and sometimes, she could hear the slightest ghost of a chuckle when he was told an amusing point of her day.

Still, his face remained a mystery and his voice was a sound that had not yet reached her ears.

Levy and a few of her classmates encouraged her frequently, all the while jumping in to assist the healing process in their own special. But as it were now, it would take forever to break down this wall he created.

Hurrying away from the school building-messenger bag overstuffed with homework and a heavy binder held close to her chest, today was not her day to relax. After having a fearful lunch, dodging food flying through the air (honestly this school was nuts) she was slammed with a chemistry test so painful it hurt to even think about it.

What was worse, she hadn't seen Natsu much today nor had she gotten the chance to speak with him, so that was a load on her mind. The only good part of her day was showing Levy her story, who was becoming more absorbed in the world she had created.

Levy had read through every single draft, failed attempt and scrapped idea that was stuffed in her binder. It was amazing how quickly Levy could sort through everything Lucy had scribbled down, heck she even managed to help organize the events of her novel properly. Lucy made sure to pay her back for it someday.

The wind tugged at her playfully as she made her way to the bus stop, trying to sway her and constantly pushing her around like a rag doll.

So far she was holding her ground pretty well and was close to the bus shed-the desired shelter from nature's breath-when whatever ground she was holding crumbled away.

Her shoe found something, be it a crack or a rock, Lucy wasn't sure. All she knew was that it brought her much closer to the concrete than she would've liked. Her hands shot out to brace the fall-to save herself from any serious injury- which meant she had to forfeit her folder's protection.

Down on stinging palms and surely bruised knees, Lucy watched in horror as her folder-filled with every detail of her novel that was artfully filed in order of date and events- flew open, scattering her many papers on the ground.

She immediately went to work collecting them, a task made difficult by the breeze stirring the sheets and making them flutter just out of reach.

Multiple people walked past, either with their eyes glued to their phones or spared a quick glance at Lucy crawling on the ground only to keep their heads straight and continued on their way. No-one even bothered to help.

"Don't all come running to help at once," she muttered angrily," I'm perfectly fine as I am. Not like I don't need any _**HELP**_ or anything."

A few more papers behind her rustled like they were about to take off into the sky and she silently begged then to stay within her reach, _" Please, please, please stay where you are. Just stick to the ground please."_

Incoming footsteps could be heard closing in, and unlike all the others, didn't fade away but stopped directly behind her. Lucy heard the person grunt as they lowered them themselves to the sidewalk and from how the papers were being shuffled, they were being taken up by whoever it is that stopped to help.

Her unknown helper walked around to stand in front of her and held out the small stack of papers.

"Thanks a bunch, you really helped me out. You're a saviour." Lucy reached up to take back her papers when she stopped just short of the stack.

Those hands

Those rough hands with calloused fingertips and thick knuckles. Lucy knew those hands. Her eyes travelled upwards, past the papers, past the washed out jeans, a little bit above that familiar hoodie to finally -FINALLY- settle on the face she always wanted to see.

" _Natsu_ "

His eyes captured hers. The darkest she had ever seen and they held a light that reminded her of the spring sun, bringing warmth to somewhere that was long cold. The bangs of his unruly pink hair skimmed just above his eyes, the wind gently brushing those strands into his gaze.

"You ok?"

His voice was soft and light, different from what she was expecting but there was an edge to it that told her it could go just as deep as the other boys in class.

"You ok?" he asked again. Natsu held out his other hand for her to take.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little damaged that's all." She grabbed his hand and was shocked by the strength in his grip. He pulled her up with ease and Lucy was on her feet in seconds.

"The papers were handed over and an awkward silence settled between the two.

"So,' Lucy began," I can finally see your face now."

"Yeah, I've been feeling a bit like my old self recently. Still can't get enough sleep though." He rubbed his eye and Lucy spied faded dark circles, a tell-tale sign of sleepless nights.

"That's great! Not the lack of sleep thing but you know, feeling more like you and-"

"You've lost someone too haven't you?"

It was a whisper that came out louder than Natsu had expected. "Aw shi- I'm sorry! I didn't mean to ask that! Just ignore what I said!"

He turned as if to leave but Lucy grabbed his sleeve," Hey it's fine," she reassured," no need to run, and yeah I did. I lost my mom a couple years back. How'd you guess?"

"…Your words." he stated plainly," They were different from everyone else's."

"How so?"

"When everyone else talked to me it all sounded the same. The words just blended together in my head and lost all their meaning. When you came along and spoke to me, I realized that you sounded like you understood what I was going through. You didn't remind me of some tape recorded message, so yeah."

He stuck his hands in his pockets and stared at her blankly," It was different and I guess that in a way, it helped me. Thanks."

That's when something amazing happened.

It was a simple action, a slight curl of the lips, but it lit up his features in an instant. He smiled for her- no, BECAUSE of her- and it warmed Lucy's heart to know that she had rescued him from a place of no return.

"You don't have to thank me you know," she pointed out," It's not necessary."

"But then it wouldn't be right," he shot back," you're supposed to say 'thanks' when someone helps you out no matter what."

The wind picked up again, ruffling their hair and tossing dust into their eyes.

"What's up with the wind today, "Natsu muttered

"I know a place close by where we can get out of It." he said offhandedly

"Where?"

"Coffee shop, just down the street. I'll pay if you want anything."

"Are you trying to repay my good deed?"

He shrugged, "Well I don't see why not. Least I could do for now."

"I'm guessing if I tell you ' _no_ ' it wouldn't stop you." Lucy mused

"Yup"

"Let's go then since you're gonna be so insistent."

He smiled again, broader this time. Revealing pearly white teeth and unnaturally pointed canines. It was radiant and Lucy was grateful that she was able to bring it back.

"Do you need help with all your stuff?" he asked

"I think I'm good. I'll probably sort them out at the coffee shop."

"I'll help then"

"You don't have to"

"I'll still help though'

"….Something tells me this is going to be a recurring thing."

 **Epilogue**

 _Walking side by side to the coffee shop-now in sight- Natsu spoke up._

" _Hey just remind me of something, I don't think I caught your name right. It's Luigi isn't it?"_

 _Lucy winced, "no, it's Lucy. How could you even get that wrong_ _ **that**_ __ _badly?"_

 _He chuckled, a sound greater than the picture his smile brought," My bad, should've guessed. Luigi is a weird name for a girl after all."_

 _Yay finished!_

 _The luigi joke will never die_

 _I should probably learn to write emotions better_

 _Thank you all for reading!_


End file.
